Mosaic of Life: Moments in the Day By Day
by Roschelle Templar
Summary: A collection of one-shots involving Ryo, Kaori and the rest of the City Hunter cast. Drawn from both the manga and the TV show.
1. Competition: The Battles Continue

Competition: The Battles Continue

Kazue and Miki stood off to the side behind the counter at the Cat's Eye café watching the scene in front of them.

Sitting at a table near the window were Ryo and Umibozu. They sat across from each other, both of them with stony expressions on their faces and their arms crossed over their chests. Neither of them had spoken or even moved in several minutes.

A moment later, Kaori walked into the café.

"Miki-san? Kazue-san?" she called out. "Ah, there you are. Have either of you seen Ryo? He was supposed to hand out flyers with me today and never showed up. And I…oh, there he is." She marched over to the table.

"Ryo! What are you doing? I waited for you for two hours. How are we supposed to get clients if you keep running off when….?"

Kaori abruptly stopped and blinked in surprise. Normally, by this point, Ryo would be giving her flustered excuses or grandiose fibs to explain why he hadn't done the chores he had agreed to do. But so far, Ryo didn't show any signs that he had heard a single word that she said. Instead, he continued to sit silently with the same impassive stare that he had had when she first spotted him.

Kaori blinked again, but soon her surprise shifted to annoyance. She waved a hand in front of his face, yelled into his ear, and even pulled out a giant mallet so she could aim it at his head. However, there was still no response. Eventually, she gave up and walked over to where Kazue and Miki were standing.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Why are they like that?"

"I don't know," Miki said. "Kazue-san said they were sitting like that when she came in to work. At first, I thought that maybe they had had a fight, but the café was as tidy as it is now." Miki leaned closer to Kaori.

"I'm a little worried," she added. "Falcon doesn't have that look in his eye very often. Usually, it's only when he's getting ready to face a difficult opponent."

"You mean like another professional?" Kazue asked. "Like Saeba-san? Do you think they've started up their old feud again?"

Kaori gulped and stared at Ryo. While she was confident that Ryo could win in a battle against Umibozu, she was also certain that he wouldn't escape such a battle unscathed. Physically or emotionally. Kaori had thought that the two of them had finally put aside the desire to fight to the death for professional reasons or to simply prove which one of them was the best. But perhaps there was some incident, some old wound that she didn't know about that neither one of them could let go of. Something they could only resolve with their guns.

"Ryo," she breathed, not daring to disrupt the silent duel in front of her. As long as it stayed like this, silent and unmoving, things could still work out. But if either of them broke that silence….

"So…you won't change your mind?" Umibozu said in a low growl.

"Why should I?" Ryo said, his tone cool and flippant. "We both know what happened."

Ryo slowly stood up and reached into his pocket. As he pulled out a small, plastic box, he slapped his palm against the table.

"I won the last game fair and square," he whined, waving the pocket pinball game in front of Umibozu's face. "So you owe me a week's worth of free coffee."

"Idiot! I saw you," Umibozu spat in an equally petulant tone. "You flipped the game over when you thought I wasn't looking so you'd win."

"Ah ah, you can't prove that," Ryo grinned, wagging his finger. "For all you know, it was just my natural skill as a sweeper at work. Either way, you owe me a week of your terrible coffee."

"If it's so terrible, why did you cheat to win a week of it?!"

"Ha! I don't have to explain myself to an octopus like you."

The two of them continued to bicker while Kazue, Miki and Kaori let their faces fall into their palms. It had only been about a minute since this argument started, but Kaori was already eager to end it.

A mallet appeared in her hands and she grinned as she approached the table.


	2. Beginnings: A New Door Opens

Beginnings: A New Door Opens

 **Author's Note:** This takes place pre-canon.

 **989:** Yes, I can't blame you for being surprised. It has been a long time. XD But I hope to add some new stuff to my CH work here and there for a while. :) I hope you'll enjoy it.

 **MsCuriosityintrouble:** Aw, thank you so much. :) That is very, very sweet of you. Yes, I do hope to post some more CH stuff once a while (including eventual updates to my open fics). So I hope you'll enjoy what's coming up.

* * *

"Before we talk about anything else, I have one question for you: why me? There are plenty of killers for hire in Shinjuku. Some of them might be better than me. So what made you decide to meet with me?"

Ryo was about to say more, but stopped and studied the man sitting across from him instead. He'd been told by some of his contacts on the street that there was someone who had heard about him and who wanted to have a talk in this café. All Ryo had been given was a name: Makimura Hideyuki.

Ryo narrowed his eyes. Makimura didn't seem like the sort of person who would hire a contract killer. Then again, Makimura didn't really make much of an impression at all with his worn trench coat and bland expression.

However, Ryo had learned a long time ago to look beyond surface appearances.

"I'm familiar with the fact that there are a lot of criminals in Shinjuku," Makimura said, taking a sip of coffee. "But I'm not looking for just anyone."

"Oh?" Ryo smirked. "I'm sure you are familiar seeing as you're a cop." Makmura blinked, but did not respond. "Surprised? Did you think that I wouldn't check up on you before coming here?"

"No, I should have known that you have," Makimura said, ruefulness coloring his tone. "The fact that you did convinces me that I made the right decision in choosing you to talk to." He took another longer sip of his coffee before sitting his cup down. "And to be more accurate, I used to be a cop."

"All right, so maybe you are not currently getting a paycheck from the department," Ryo huffed. "That doesn't mean you've given it up entirely."

Makimura nodded and adjusted his glasses. Although he was still unsure about this meeting, Ryo was impressed at how calm and controlled Makimura seemed to be. Normally, the people he encountered on business were either overly cocky to compensate for nervousness or they were skittish.

"You're right," Makimura finally responded. "I haven't given up being a cop completely, but perhaps not in the way you think. Because my commitment to the law is why I left the force."

Now, it was Ryo's turn to be surprised and he leaned in, suddenly more interested in what Makimura had to say.

"When I was a detective, I saw plenty of injustice," Makimura continued. "Of course, I expected a certain amount of corruption. I was never naïve enough to think that there were no dirty cops. Or that all crimes had a neat solution. However, the problem I had reached far beyond that."

Makimura paused, lifted his cup and then set it back down without taking a drink. "It's not just the payoffs or the use of excessive force that some cops embrace. It's also the attitude that some victims are more deserving of justice than others. Or that there is no need to consider the wellbeing of the victims beyond their capacity to provide evidence."

Makimura relaxed a little and finished the coffee in his cup before starting again.

"I don't believe that the justice system as a whole is rotten beyond repair. But it does have enough cracks that too many victims fall into….and too many criminals slip through. That is why I wanted to meet with you. Because you have a reputation of following your own code in choosing your targets and I would like to suggest a way the both of us could work outside the justice system…so we can preserve it."

Ryo smirked again, but inside he couldn't put his finger on how he felt. He didn't agree with everything Makimura said, but a lot of it made sense to him.

Either way, he was pretty sure that Makimura might have some answers to questions he had been carrying around for a long time.

"All right," Ryo said with a nod. "Let's talk."


	3. A Triumphant Defeat

A Triumphant Defeat: Ryo Meets the Challenge

 **MsCuriosityintrouble:** Aw thank you so much. :) I've always thought that Makimura was a fascinating character and wished we could have seen more about him in the series, even if it was just by flashbacks. So it's always fun to include more with him.

* * *

"Ryo! Where have you been? You were supposed to help me with the cleaning over three hours ago."

Ryo bounced from foot to foot another one of his patented goofy, apologetic grins on his face. Kaori had caught him sneaking into the living room just as she was getting ready to put away the cleaning supplies and go out looking for him.

"I…forgot?" Ryo said, putting a finger on his chin.

Kaori crossed her arms over her chest and intensified the glare she had fixed on him. "Ryo…do you really expect me to believe that?"

"No, ha, ha, I guess not, ha ha ha," Ryo said with some of the most forced laughter she had ever heard from him. "Um…I was looking for a client?"

"You mean you were skulking around the love hotels again?" Kaori said, her jaw grinding frustration. "Because I know you weren't checking the blackboard like you were supposed to."

Ryo's face turned red and he seemed to sink down into the floor. Kaori could tell that he was frantically trying to divert attention from how much his failed attempt to explain himself had backfired. "No, not the hotels. Of course not. Would I do that to you, Kaori-chan?"

"Yes," she snapped at him. "So where were you? The truth this time or…."

There was a flash of light and yet another giant mallet appeared in Kaori's hands. Ryo whimpered and clamped his arms over his head.

"All right, all right, I was at the arcade playing a video game."

Kaori had been poised in mid-strike when Ryo finally confessed. While it wasn't a great answer, it wasn't one she had been expecting. She swung the mallet over the side and waited for Ryo to continue.

"There is this space attack game at that arcade next to the pachinko parlor," he said. "You know, the one Maki-chan used to win all those packs of cigarettes at? Anyway, we used to get coffee at that arcade and Maki-chan would play that game. He said he did it because he was bored."

Kaori nodded, intrigued by this story. While this wasn't the kind of thing her brother did very often, it wasn't the first time he had picked up some little hobby that surprised her.

"Anyway, he got me playing it too," Ryo shrugged. "I figured if he enjoyed it, there must have been something to it. It's a simple game, really. Something for kids."

"Or people who act like kids," Kaori smirked. "If it was so simple, why do you keep playing it?"

"Because I kept trying to beat Maki-chan's high score," Ryo said, frowning and beating his right fist into his other palm. "He had the top score on that machine and no matter how many times I tried to beat it, I always died right before the end."

Kaori shook her head and was about to comment on this when she noticed the wide grin that appeared on Ryo's face.

"But today, today I finally did it," he said. "I finally beat that score. Victory is mine at last." Ryo smiled even more and raised his leg up on a chair for a victory pose. "I'm still the number one pro."

Kaori sighed and grabbed a broom, thrusting it into Ryo's hands.

"And now you can be the number one broom sweeper. So get to work."

* * *

A couple of days later, Kaori wandered in the arcade Ryo and her brother used to hang around in. She remembered it from when she was a teenager. Hideyuki would always find one game he really liked and keep playing it until the owners of the arcade took it away to replace it with something else.

It didn't take her long to spy the machine that Ryo had mentioned. No one was standing in front of it, so she walked over to get a closer look.

Once she was there, she looked at a readout of the high scores on the screen.

 _Maki. H. 2789001_

 _Maki. H. 2789000_

Kaori tilted her head and studied the numbers. A few seconds later, she realized what had caught her eye. The second score was from a few years ago, when her brother was still alive.

While the second one was from a couple of days ago…when Ryo was playing around in the arcade.

A warm smile appeared on Kaori's face and she immediately planned to make one of Ryo's favorite dinners that night.


	4. Pieces of Memory

Pieces of Memory

 **MsCuriosityinTrouble** : Thank you. :) I agree with you that Makimura probably was proud to work with Ryo despite his really subdued demeanor and having to put up with Ryo's partying and lecherous ways. XD I think it's something Ryo knew about too which was one of the reasons why he considered Makimura such a dear friend.

 **Reesen555** : Well...here's the thing. I haven't written for CH in literally years. And I think most fic writers will tell you that it's not easy to jump back into writing for a fandom after so much time away. Or to pick up a fic after a long hiatus like that. Thus why I decided to try my hand at shorter one-shot pieces to get back into the feel of writing for these characters...Also, I do think it's a little unreasonable to make your complaint about that into your review for this fic when I didn't see any reviews, favorites, or follows from you on that trilogy of fics to begin with. That is, unless you were one of the anon reviewers. But still...I plan on getting back to it as some point, but I honestly can't say when. In the meantime, I hope you can enjoy these short pieces. If not...I'm sorry, but they are all I have for the moment.

 **Dreamykid99:** Well, each chapter is going to vary on how much it will feature each character. Except for Ryo who will probably be featured in most if not every chapter. So stick around and I'm sure you'll see more of Kaori from time to time. :)

* * *

It all started over a vase.

Kaori had been doing a stack of dishes that morning, leftover from when a client had dinner with her and Ryo the previous evening. She had been in a hurry to get her work done and was carrying a stack of plates when her arm brushed up against a counter, knocking the vase to the floor. It fell apart into several pieces upon impact.

Kaori carefully sat the stack of plates down and crouched closer to the floor to look at the remains of the vase. It was an old vase. Cheap and plain with some dingy yellow and orange flowers in the middle of a white background. It had become chipped in the first week that she had bought it. Part of the reason Kaori kept it in the kitchen was to keep it out of view when guests visited.

Kaori sighed and got up to get a dust pan and brush to clean it up. While it was part of the décor from the apartment where she lived with her brother, this wasn't a vase she would miss all that much. Not really. There were no special memories attached to it and Hideyuki never seemed to notice it.

Still, as she tried to pick up the larger pieces and put them in the pan, she felt a little hole open up in her heart.

One of the shards cut her finger, a paper-cut thin line that hurt more than it bled. Kaori tried to tell herself that the pain she felt at that moment was from the cut rather than because this vase had been destroyed. She brushed the rest of the pieces into the pan, trying hard to make that reasoning stick and failing completely.

It wasn't until she had the mess swept up and was about to deposit it into the bin that she realized the source of her pain. It wasn't the vase itself. It was the fact that another piece of her memory's landscape had been erased.

Kaori sniffed hard and dumped the broken pieces into the wastebasket. It was stupid to get so upset over a vase. She had much better things to remember her brother by. Still, she couldn't deny that she always derived some comfort over the presence of places and things that were around her when Hideyuki was alive. Like that newspaper stand where he bought his daily paper and cigarettes. Like the soba noodle shop he liked to eat on Saturdays. Even something like the night stand he used to keep in his room, which was now in her bedroom, was a pleasant reminder of all of the little moments and routines from their shared life. Their continued existence kept her memories of her brother just a little more vivid.

She leaned over the sink and tried to catch her breath. Would she ever stop feeling upset at these sudden reminders of her brother? Would the rest of her life be spent clutching at anything and everything that helped her remember him and what she had lost when he died? It was a depressing, horrifying thought and yet, Kaori could not stop dwelling on it.

Kaori blinked hard a few more times and then went back to her dishes, trying her best to blot those thoughts from her mind.

A couple of days later, Kaori was getting ready to clean the kitchen again when something caught her eye. She stopped and stared for a full minute until she realized that the vase had been replaced by one that could have been its twin. It wasn't chipped, but otherwise it was the same in every other aspect. Inside were a couple of carnations.

' _How did this get there?'_ she wondered. _'Did Ryo….?'_

Kaori thought back to earlier that day and a comment from Ryo brought a smile to her lips.

" _But I didn't go to the love hotels, Kaori-chan. All I did was check out the mokkori visions at this going-out-of-business sale downtown. But all they wanted to look at was a bunch of old junk."_

' _Old junk…like this old vase,'_ she thought. ' _Ryo….'_

It wasn't exactly the same. Nothing ever could be when it's part of the past. But it still felt like something warm and familiar just the same.


	5. Costs

Costs

 **MsCuriosityintrouble:** Aw, thanks so much. The fact that people could feel connected to the people that they lost through objects did seem like a bit of a theme in City Hunter. Like the ring that Kaori treasured from her brother. Thus, I figured that it manifested itself in lots of other little ways for her. Anyway, thanks again for the review. I am glad that you've been enjoying these so far. :)

* * *

Ryo Saeba knew why the worst criminals in the Shinjuku underworld feared him.

Some might have thought it was because Ryo was an expert in taking people or whole organizations out. Or because he had a reputation for being ruthless in his methods. Or perhaps even because all the attempts to stop him in the past had ended in catastrophic failure.

But Ryo believed it was much simpler, much more subtle than that. It wasn't his actions or even his decisions that the depraved members of society were terrified of. It was the power. The power that he had over life or death, prosperity or destruction.

It was the power to decide who could continue to exist and who would be erased…and the power to make those decisions come to fruition.

Standing on the roof of his building, Ryo lit up a cigarette and watched the whirls of smoke dance over the city lights. The knowledge that he had this power was one of the most difficult things he had to endure as a sweeper. Even more than the awareness of how much blood was on his hands. This knowledge came with all the temptations to use his power for selfish reasons and the responsibilities to find ways to alleviate suffering with it instead. It was a struggle he had to confront daily and probably would continue to follow him for the rest of his life.

Ryo smirked and took another long drag on his cigarette. This wasn't the best place to contemplate this subject. From here, people looked like animated specks of dust. There was little than distinguished one speck from the other and all of them seemed trivial. How could someone with his power appreciate the value of lives he watched from afar?

"Ryo!"

Ryo dropped his cigarette and snuffed it out with the toe of his boot before turning to face Kaori.

"Ah, Kaori-chan," he laughed. "I was just about to…."

"I was getting ready to make dinner," Kaori interrupted. "I'm making oden so it's going to be late tonight."

"Oh good," Ryo smirked. "That will give the stomach medicine I bought time to take effect before I eat."

Kaori narrowed her eyes at him, and for a moment, Ryo thought another hammer would soon appear. However, she surprised him by grinning, a look that could be even more dangerous than her angry looks.

"Ryo…don't forget you agreed to finish the cleaning in the basement," she said a little too sweetly. "That is, unless you want to me to come up with a different chore for you."

"Oh no, no, no," Ryo said, shaking his head. "I'll get to it right after dinner."

"I thought so," Kaori chuckled. She turned on her heel and went downstairs. Ryo turned back to the skyline of the city and let out a sigh.

Even if he were to get down from the roof and mingle among the people rushing about on the streets below, Ryo knew it wouldn't make a difference. He would still be watching them from a distance. There would always be a separation between him and other people. That was also a price he had to pay for his power.

And it was never more keenly felt than when he edged along the wall he had put up between himself and Kaori. A barrier he could never allow to come down because he valued her life too much.

Because he still had the power to keep her safe. The only cost was bitterness he had to let into his soul.


End file.
